Since there was nobody left to fight Sunni Ali, he took over Timbuktu in Sunni Ali earned a reputation of being a harsh conqueror for his cruel massacre of Timbuktu citizens trying to leave the city. After conquering Timbuktu , Sunni Ali wanted to conquer other cities. For seven years, he tried to capture Jenne , but found it difficult since it was surrounded by water.
This time, Sunni Ali was merciful and did not allow his soldiers to plunder or hurt the people. He soon left Jenne in order to conquer the lands in between Jenne and Timbuktu. Songhai became bigger than Ghana and Mali combined. The Songhai economy was based on a clan system. The most common were metalworkers, fishermen, and carpenters. Lower caste participants consisted of mostly non-farm working immigrants, who at times were provided special privileges and held high positions in society.
At the top were noblemen and direct descendants of the original Songhai people, followed by freemen and traders. At the bottom were war captives and European slaves obligated to labor, especially in farming.
Historian James Olson describes the labor system as resembling modern day unions, with the empire possessing craft guilds that consisted of various mechanics and artisans. Criminal justice in Songhai was based mainly, if not entirely, on Islamic principles, especially during the rule of Askia the Great. Upper classes in society converted to Islam while lower classes often continued to follow traditional religions.
Sermons emphasized obedience to the king. Sonni Ali established a system of government under the royal court, later to be expanded by Askia, which appointed governors and mayors to preside over local tributary states situated around the Niger valley. Local chiefs were still granted authority over their respective domains as long as they did not undermine Songhai policy. Tax was imposed onto peripheral chiefdoms and provinces to ensure the dominance of Songhai, and in return these provinces were given almost complete autonomy.
Songhai rulers only intervened in the affairs of these neighboring states when a situation became volatile, usually an isolated incident. Privacy Policy.
Skip to main content. Search for:. Key Points The Songhai Empire was a state that dominated the western Sahel in the 15th and 16th centuries. In the second half of the 14th century, disputes over succession weakened the Mali Empire and in the s Songhai, previously a Mali dependency, gained independence under the Sonni Dynasty.
The internal political chaos and multiple civil wars within the empire allowed Morocco to invade Songhai. The main reason for the Moroccan invasion was to seize control of and revive the trans-Saharan trade in salt and gold. The empire fell to the Moroccans and their firearms in Terms Timbuktu A historical and still-inhabited city in the West African nation of Mali, situated 20 km 12 mi north of the River Niger on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert.
Sahel The ecoclimatic and biogeographic zone of transition in Africa between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian Savanna to the south. Gao A city in Mali located on the River Niger that for much of its history was an important commercial center involved in the trans-Saharan trade.
The Songhai kingdom was the last major one in the region. Its fall did not bring an end to kingdoms in West Africa. The Trans Saharan trade was complex. It was not limited to trade and the exchange of gold, copper, iron, kola nuts, cloth, and salt.
It was also about close co-operation and interdependence between kingdoms south of the Sahara and kingdoms north of the Sahara. Salt from the Sahara desert was just as important to the economies and kingdoms south of the Sahara as gold was for those in the north. Therefore, the exchange of these commodities was vital for the economic and political stability of the region.
Trade significantly influenced the course of history in West Africa. The wealth made through trade was used to build larger kingdoms and empires. To protect their trade interests, these kingdoms built strong armies.
Kingdoms that desired more control of the trade also developed strong armies to expand their kingdoms and protect them from competition. Long distance trade helped the local economy and supported internal trade. Merchants travelling between towns across the Sahara needed places to rest and stock up with food for the journey across the Sahara desert. Food would be provided by local markets that relied on local farms for supplies. This practice allowed merchants to plan long trips knowing that local markets would provide food and shelter.
For this reason, many kingdoms in West Africa encouraged agricultural improvements to meet this need. Often this meant uniting smaller farmers, traders and societies into stronger trading blocs. For example, the Kuba kingdom in present day Congo brought together different cultures under a single authority and used the Congo River as a main transport link to other distant kingdoms. As a result, smaller traders joined with each other like the Chokwe and Lunda kingdoms under a single broad-based trade.
This led to the increase of ivory and rubber trade between these kingdoms and with Portuguese traders. Present day Kuba King. Source: Daniel Laine National Geographic, from www.
The slave trade was also important for the economic development of West Africa. For a very long time, West African kingdoms had relied on slaves to carry out heavy work. The Songhai kingdom under the rule of Askia Mohammed used slaves as soldiers. Slaves were trusted not to overthrow their rulers.
Slaves were also given important positions as royal advisers. Songhai rulers believed that slaves could be trusted to provide unbiased advice unlike other citizens who held a personal stake in the outcome of decisions. Another group of slaves was known as palace slaves or the Arbi. The Arbi slaves served mainly as craftspersons, potters, woodworkers, and musician.
Slaves also worked on village farms to help produce enough food to supply the growing population in towns. The Asante kingdom of the Akan people grew in about the 15th and 16th century into a powerful kingdom in the most southern parts of West Africa, present day Ghana.
This growth was made possible by the rich gold mines found in the kingdom. The Akan people used their gold to buy slaves from the Portuguese. Since , the Portuguese who were interested in obtaining Asante gold, had opened a trading port at El Mina. As a result, their first slave trade in West Africa was with the Akan people. Slave labour made it easy for the Akan people to shift from small scale agriculture to large scale agriculture Giblin The shift transformed the Asante kingdom and it developed a wealthy agricultural and mining economy.
The Akan people needed slaves to work their gold mines and farms. Passing traders and a growing population in the Asante towns demanded increasing supplies of food. The slave trade with the Portuguese continued until the early s.
The Akan people supplied the Portuguese with slaves to work on sugar plantations in Brazil. A small number of slaves were kept in the Asante kingdom.
However, by this period, the Atlantic slave trade dominated trade with West Africa. Kingdoms like the Asante and Dahomey used their power to raid societies like the Bambara, Mende, and Fulanis for slaves. The kingdom of Benin is the only known kingdom in West Africa to abolish slave trading in Benin. The slave trade ban was succesful and forced the Portuguese to search for slaves elsewhere in West Africa.
However, Dutch traders took over the role. From the s the Dutch dominated the West african and Atlantic Slave trade. The Portuguese and Dutch governments were unable to colonise West African kingdoms because they were too strong and well organised. As a result, the slave and ivory, rubber and gold trades remained under the control of Asante, Fon, and Kongo kingdoms.
In , the British government abolished the slave trade. Because West African kingdoms did not co-operate with the British, the slave trade across the Atlantic Ocean continued. However, the slave trade declined in areas where the British had influence, for example the Gold Coast. Industrial development in Britain led to increasing trade with West Africa in agricultural products like palm oil, rubber, and cocoa.
To supply Britain with these products, the Asante kingdom kept the slaves they had captured for the Atlantic slave trade and used them as farm workers instead. This led to the growth of slavery in West Africa because each kingdom wanted to profit from this new trade.
West African slavery came to a slow end towards the end of the 19th century when many of these kingdoms were colonised by the French and British. Former slaves became the landless lower classes.
Due to the many rivers, which cross over each other, the main source of transport was by canoe. Unlike other West African states, Niger ones were different in character.
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